George Ezra talks mental health and music: 'This is not a healthy way to find happiness'

This should have been the best year of George Ezra's life. But, amid the guilt from success, the lack of control and the sheer pressure of it all, Ezra says his mental health was in sharp decline. Our Live Act Of The Year winner for 2019 talks about prioritising meditation over the hit parade

For someone who trades in good clean fun, George Ezra would like you to know that's not what he's like down the pub. "When I first started out I was never sure how the media was going to portray me. And when it was as this safe, smiley, sweet young man, I went, ‘I can roll with that,'" he told GQ. “I’m not wholesome when I’m with my friends at the pub. I’m similar to most 26-year-olds."

Unlike most 26-year-olds though, Ezra is an international phenomenon: the patron saint of sun-drenched easygoing pop music, a hitmaker who fell into the industry by accident. 2019 looks like it should have been a year of sunshine and optimism, but behind the scenes of a sensational rise to superstardom Ezra was coming to terms with what success meant for his mental health: "At the peak of this album, I found myself the least happy that I remember ever feeling."

Before his bucolic Brits performance, he says, he'd been though three weeks of therapy. He also recalled how one night after coming off stage he told his sister – who is also his PA – that “I have to keep reminding myself this is not a healthy way to find happiness.”

Now he's found ways of practicing self-care: his podcast, for example, and increased mindfulness. "I do transcendental meditation twice a day, but – and this isn’t to be negative about it – I just wish it wasn’t called that," he explained, "because when I’m trying to communicate with people in the pub about this thing that could change their lives, I know full well they’re thinking, ‘Right. OK. You’ve joined a cult.’”

A new George Ezra for 2020, then. A new Ezra who might be bringing a new edge to his music. "For my next album, I won’t be focusing on escaping or writing songs about getting away," he said. "Because, for me, it hasn’t worked.”

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